Brobbey v. J&A Trucking LLC
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:23-cv-05204
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Brobbey v. J&A Trucking LLC, Judge Caproni ordered defendants to document when they received a damages statement and possibly explain their removal deadline.
The order directly affects J&A Trucking LLC and Jeancarlos Polanco, who must provide evidence about the date they received the Bill of Particulars and may have to explain the timing of removal. It also affects Eugene Brobbey because the case could be returned to state court, although the order did not make that determination.
What happened
In Brobbey v. J&A Trucking LLC, Eugene Brobbey originally filed the case in New York state court. J&A Trucking LLC and Jeancarlos Polanco later moved the case to federal court, relying on the amount of damages and the parties’ citizenship for federal jurisdiction.
The complaint did not state the amount sought. Defendants said Brobbey later sent a document seeking $1 million, but the opinion noted uncertainty about whether they received it on May 15 or June 16, 2023. Federal law generally gives a defendant 30 days after receiving a paper showing that a case can be moved to federal court.
Judge Valerie Caproni ordered the defendants to submit evidence by June 30, 2023, showing when they received the document. If the federal filing was more than 30 days after service, the defendants must explain why the case should not be returned to state court. The order did not itself remand the case.
The detailed version
- Brobbey v. J&A Trucking LLC · No. 1:23-cv-05204
- Valerie Caproni
- June 21, 2023
Background
Eugene Brobbey filed this case in Bronx County Supreme Court on February 16, 2023. The complaint did not state the amount of money at issue. On June 20, 2023, J&A Trucking LLC and Jeancarlos Polanco filed a notice of removal, seeking to move the case from state court to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction. Diversity jurisdiction generally covers civil cases involving more than $75,000 and citizens of different states.
According to the defendants, Brobbey first sent a Bill of Particulars—a document describing the claims and damages sought—by email on June 16, 2023, and stated that he sought $1 million in damages. The opinion also noted that the Bill of Particulars may have been served on May 15, 2023.
Removal deadline
Federal law requires a defendant to file a notice of removal within 30 days after receiving an amended pleading, motion, order, or other paper from which it can first be determined that the case is removable. The defendants asserted that they were entitled to five additional days because service may have been made by mail. Judge Caproni stated that the defendants relied on New York procedural law for that argument and that this authority does not govern the federal removal deadline. The court was not persuaded by the argument.
Order
The court ordered the defendants to submit evidence no later than June 30, 2023, confirming when, if at all, they received the Bill of Particulars that Brobbey purportedly served on May 15, 2023. If the defendants filed their notice of removal more than 30 days after receiving that document, the court ordered them to show cause—give a legally sufficient explanation—why the case should not be remanded to state court. The order did not decide that the case must be remanded and did not resolve the ultimate merits of Brobbey’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.